Hand drawn or painted FDC (first day covers) have been done since the 1940s. Over the past few years I have begun combining my collection of comic character hand drawn sketches with FDCs. This blog is being maintained for the purpose of sharing my collection...

Friday, November 25, 2016

I appreciate all styles of art, but every so often, one just grabs at me. Travis Hanson has that style. His self-published works include The Bean and Little Lost Tales.. Trav's website has a comic showing him speaking with his daughter about how his imagination took him on many adventures through his summer afternoons, fighting robots, traveling in hot air balloons, spaceships, riding on the back of dinosaurs, exploring jungles like Indiana Jones, etc... No different from everyone who attends a comic expo...

I was especially taken by his imagery of a hot air balloon flying alongside flying whales, this beautiful vision of flight is what made me want to visit his booth at the expo...

Although the sketch he drew is small in size, it is expansive in imagination... Dream Big!

Travis provided the artwork for the Expo program and T-shirt. He made sure to include the iconic Edison Tower in the background and the NJ Devil, in his hockey uniform as part of the artwork to add a true touch of Jersey attitude to his art...

Friday, November 18, 2016

Budd Root is the creator of the independent comic book Cavewoman and his one-shot "Cavewoman: Jungle Tales" was nominated for a 1999 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story. I had hoped to obtain a Cavewoman sketch on the Tarzan cover, but Budd being a big fan of the Tarzan series decided to sketch a Tarzan character, and I am very happy with his choice. Since I am not well versed in Tarzan, Budd's enthusiasm has made me start to read the series...

La of Opar made her first appearance in the second Tarzan novel "The Return of Tarzan". La is the queen and high priestess of Opar, the lost city located deep in the Jungles of Africa. La would also appear in the story Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins, written by Edgar Rice Burroughs...

Burroughs created Tarzan in 1912, with Tarzan of the Apes; along with John Carter from Mars as part of the Barsoom series of stories; David Innes and Abner Perry in the Pellucidar series; Carson Napier of the Venus series and his Caspak (or Caprona) trilogy that started with "The Land That Time Forgot"...

Friday, November 11, 2016

Jeff Zapata is the former art director for Topps (Garbage Pail kids, Hollywood Zombies, Wacky Packages and Mars Attacks). Along with Joe Simko, they directed the documentary "30 Years of Garbage Pail Kids"

In attendance at the Monsters and Robots show were Zapata, Simko, Jay Lynch, James Warhola and Mark Pignitore. They all participated in a panel discussion of their experiences creating and developing the Garbage Pail Kids. An excellent panel...

I went to this show with the thought of obtaining an in-person sketch, I have a Mars Attacks sketch card from Zapata... During our discussion he kept referencing back to his enjoyment of being involved with the Mars Attacks project. Since I already had a Mars attacks sketch card, we agreed on a Garbage Pail Kids - Mars Attacks mash-up. The Buzz Lightyear cover was a great choice, as we all know Buzz would be there battling the Martians with us... To Infinity and Beyond....

Friday, November 4, 2016

Tom Palmer started his career in comics with Marvel, after working in advertising and as a freelance illustrator. Palmer would go to EC Comics working alongside Jack Kamen and Wally Wood.

Moving to Marvel comics he was offered his first pencilling work on Doctor Strange #171, which did not go as planned, and the title was handed over to Gene Colan. Marvel quickly changed Palmer's position to inker. The Colon-Palmer run on Doctor Strange became legendary.

Palmer would also work with Neal Adams on Un canny X-Men and The Avengers. Palmer would also work on additional titles including Daredevil, Tomb of Dracula and Star Wars.

Doctor Strange was created by Steve Ditko for Marvel Comics, making his first appearance in Strange Tales #110, 1963. Doctor Strange is a neurosurgeon who lost the use of his hands following a car accident. Seeking out the Ancient One to help him, eventually becomes the Sorcerer Supreme himself..

Harry Houdini was honored by the USPS in 2002 with his own stamp. An illusionist and stunt performer, Houdini was noted for his remarkable escapes. Houdini started his career as a magician in 1891 as the "King of Cards" performing card tricks before moving on to the more demanding escapes. Houdini would go on to debunking spiritualists, exposing frauds

About Me

I have been a collector as far back as I can remember. Stamps, covers, autographs, baseball cards, comic books, coins, political buttons, sports memorabilia, space stamps and covers, and the list goes on.
This blog was set up to be able to share a small part of my collection with anyone who shares the interest.